


A Lonely Cliff

by WitchyBee



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alcohol, Background Lonely Eyes, Bets & Wagers, Evil Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, uncle simon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 03:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20557706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchyBee/pseuds/WitchyBee
Summary: Simon doesn’t care about much of anything these days. He certainly never intended to start caring about the awkward Lukas boy.





	A Lonely Cliff

Simon doesn’t mind the Lukases. Sure, they’re a dreary lot, but less...intense than Rayner’s people. All that cult business just seems silly to him; projecting significance where none really exists. At least the Lukases don’t pretend to be more than what they are. He can respect that.

Today he has a meeting with Nathaniel, the family's patriarch, who had expressed an interest in purchasing one of Simon’s old ships. He doesn’t really need the money, but, well, space travel isn’t cheap, and he must look to the future rather than the past.

Nathaniel has brought one of his younger sons, Peter, along with him, which is odd. He offers some boring explanation about the boy’s nanny having to cancel at the last minute, and while Simon doesn’t really believe it, he doesn’t much care either way. The boy is a nervous one, but well behaved and, unsurprisingly, quiet. Peter’s maybe...five years old? Ten? Age has become a bit difficult to measure since it stopped meaning anything to him personally centuries ago.

They take the boat out on the water, of course, so the potential buyer can see that everything is in working order. Simon, leaving Nathaniel and their respective lawyers to sort out the details in the captain’s cabin, goes on deck to catch a glimpse of the expansive horizon. People just don’t appreciate it anymore. Certainly don’t fear it like they used to. He’d once thought there was enough fear of the ocean’s chilling depths to reshape the world, and that was long before the movie Jaws. These days the fear is not of the sea but for it. Pollution. Plastic. Rising tides. Something is beginning to shift and he can feel it, probably more keenly than most.

Simon leans against the railing and thinks about throwing himself overboard. Or perhaps someone else.

And that’s when he realizes he is not alone.

The pale Lukas boy is gazing out over the waves as well, utterly enthralled. Even those who have taken the Fairchild name rarely look upon an aspect of the Falling Titan with such awe. He’s not afraid in this moment, like he’d seemed to be of Simon and his father. Interesting.

“Quite the view, eh?” Simon remarks casually.

Peter flinches at his words, probably unaccustomed to being addressed. Or speaking at all, for that matter.

“Y-yes, sir, Mr Fairchild,“ he stammers.

“Please, call me Simon. ‘Mr Fairchild’ makes me feel old.” He turns his gaze back toward the sea, contemplative. Reverent. “It truly is magnificent, isn’t it?”

“It’s...peaceful,“ the boy agrees.

Loneliness is not the same as peace, he supposes. They talk, although not much. Peter asks halting questions about the ocean, the ship, and sailing in general. Simon indulges his curiosity. He idly wonders if, were it not for his upbringing, the kid might have chosen his patron instead. Servants are made, after all, not born. But family is a powerful thing, too, and Peter Lukas is a very lonely child indeed.

Nathaniel comes to collect the boy eventually. He does buy the ship, in the end.

Simon does not see Peter again for quite some time after that. The Lukases begin to isolate themselves even more in the intervening years, withdrawing further from the world as their ritual attempt approaches. Rumor is one of them turned his back on the Lonely, running away to forge a daringly mundane life of warmth and human connection. An amusing thought.

But the next time he visits Moorland House, Peter is exactly where he ought to be and, it seems, has become exactly who he ought to be. He is taller now, broader, just as pale and a bit more talkative. Simon can still see a shadow of that anxious kid he'd once been, but the One Alone has granted him a quiet confidence. As had his new profession; Peter is a captain now. Family business, naturally. Simon can’t help feeling a bit proud nonetheless.

* * *

One thing he will honestly never understand about Peter is his strange, dysfunctional relationship with Elias Bouchard. Opposites attract, sure enough. Simon can appreciate the novelty of an exciting affair. He isn’t one to judge, really, but at this point it’s getting absurd, not to mention predictable and, frankly, rather tedious.

Bouchard’s reputation had preceded him, or at least the Archivist’s did. The man himself is harder to pin down, as Simon knows how sly the Watcher’s people can be, how easy it is to underestimate them. Early on he even briefly considers going to the Magnus Institute personally, demanding to know Elias’ intentions toward Peter, but he would prefer not to risk the Eye seeing more than it should. Simon isn't sure when he started to think of Peter almost as family, some sort of nephew in need of his guidance, but he does. So he simply warns Peter instead. He doesn't say that it won’t last, of course, because nothing ever lasts in the grand scheme of things. He just tells him that it will hurt.

No one really listens to their elders' advice anymore, though, and a few months later the unlikely couple are married. How lonely, he thinks. Tying yourself, ostensibly until death, to another person when love is so pointless and fleeting.

It’s not long before they divorce. He foolishly supposes that will be the end of it. Then there is another wedding. By now Simon has long since accepted that this thing between Peter and Elias is inexorable.

“And how is the husband?” he’ll ask.

Peter will shrug and hold up a hand to display the lack of a ring on his finger.

“Hmm. That would be, what, eight months? I believe I win the bet.”

“Yes, yes. You usually do, in this case.”

“It sounds like you need a little perspective, my boy,” he says cheerfully.

Peter glares. “I am not going skydiving with you again.”

“Spoilsport.”

* * *

He returns home one evening to find his garden shrouded in a thick fog, like he’s back in London in 1952. Peter had apparently dropped by unannounced and is now sitting on Simon's couch, drinking his very expensive brandy.

“Are you even old enough to drink?” Simon wonders.

Peter stares at him for a long moment. “I’m 45,” he says.

“Which is–”

“Yes.”

He considers the indifferent and relentless passing of time.

“Well, then I’ll have a glass too," he says. "What’s the occasion?”

“Evan is dead,” Peter replies, his tone brisk and detached.

“Ah. The black sheep, correct?”

Peter nods and sips his drink.

“A pity, that,” Simon offers. He isn’t exactly sure what he is meant to do with this information. He hadn’t known the wayward Lukas very well, after all. But he does know Peter. Socially, the young man has always thrived most when there is some sort of contract involved, the stakes defined and expectations clearly established. A wager. Or a marriage.

Simon doesn’t expect anything of him, though, and Peter says nothing more on the subject. The companionable silence stretches on between them, taking up space.

They finish off the brandy bottle and then, feeling restless, decide to hike up the path to the aptly named High Cliff. They watch the waves breaking violently against the rocks far below.

It’s peaceful.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @podcastenthusiast.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] A Lonely Cliff](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23232286) by [stardust_podfics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardust_podfics/pseuds/stardust_podfics)


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